


Captain Courageous

by opalmatrix



Category: Saiyuki
Genre: Community: weissvsaiyuki, Courage, First Meetings, Geeks, Grief/Mourning, Kid Fic, M/M, Starting Over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 11:39:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4136076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalmatrix/pseuds/opalmatrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakkai and his young daughter are both having trouble making a new start in their new town, until ... .</p>
            </blockquote>





	Captain Courageous

**Author's Note:**

> Request: modern-day AU - new-in-town widower Hakkai takes his young daughter to the playground and meets recently-divorced!hot-dad!Gojyo. I imagine I could write some more of this: it's a prompt that I first saw several years ago on another _Saiyuki_ meme and it's been in the back of my mind ever since. No beta, and I may need to clean it up some more later.

The playground at Fallsgrove Park was the modern sort, with molded plastic equipment to comfort nervous parents and equally nervous municipal officials who feared lawsuits. Hakkai felt obscurely offended by it: his vision of Julia's childhood included climbing on the same sort of metal bar jungle gym and swinging on the same sort of chain-and-wood swings that he had used at the orphanage. Still, he beckoned his daughter toward it with a reassuring and (he hoped) cheerful smile. "Look, Julia: there's that whole climbing … thing, with slides, and a playhouse, and the cargo nets. And there are lots of other little girls."

Julia came up behind him and grabbed his trouser leg, peeking out at the cheery scene from that safe invisibility. "There's Madeline," she whispered.

"From your school?" Julia was so far behind him that he could barely see the top of her head. She nodded. "Why don't you go play with her?"

There was silence. Hakkai turned around and knelt down by his child. She was looking at him as though he were insane. "Go on, Julia," he said.

"But Daddy … ."

"Please, kitten. You're getting very lonely and bored at home. You need to make friends."

Silently she turned and walked toward the playground like a prisoner going to her execution, straight dark hair pulled back with blue barrettes, blue t-shirt with flowers, denim shorts, white ruffled socks, blue trainers. Hakkai remembered, with a sudden pang, how much Karen used to love picking out Julia's clothes. He did his best, but he was never sure whether what she was wearing was quite the right thing.

It was easy to pick out Madeline: a regular little princess in a brightly flowered skirt with built-in shorts, bright yellow blouse and sandals, blonde ponytail wrapped with a ruffled elastic, and a disdainful expression. Julia appeared to be addressing the tanbark at her schoolmate's feet. The two girls behind Madeline looked bored and impatient. Suddenly one of them whispered in the blonde girl's ear, and all three tittered. Julia's shoulders slumped. She wandered away by herself and sat down under the chute of the biggest slide. Madeline and her ladies sauntered off to take command of the playhouse away from some younger children.

Hakkai shook his head and sat down on a bench, away from the bevy of trendy young mums who were gossiping together, or tending babies. Really, he thought; he was no better at making friends than Julia these days. Two years ago, Julia had been a whimsical little sprite with half a dozen best chums at the university nursery school. Now, motherless and adrift in a new school and a new home, she was shy and friendless.

But we couldn't stay there, thought Hakkai. I could barely get myself out of bed to make her breakfast back there, where everything reminded me of Karen. Julia would get better, as he had been doing. He'd give it fifteen minutes. If she didn't find someone else to play with, he would take her off again.

"Nnnneeeeeerrrrr!"

The loud whining buzz came from a wiry, rather grubby child who was zooming across the playground with arms swept back and outward a little. The noise, short-cropped curls, oversized sports team t-shirt, and sharp face made Hakkai think it was a boy at first, but even though this was a very modern, egalitarian neighborhood, he still wouldn't think a boy would be wearing those bright pink bike shorts, even though they were paired with black Nike trainers. As he watched, the girl-plane or spaceship or whatever she was pretending to be buzzed across to the playhouse, pounded up the stairs to its flat roof, and shoved her way past Madeline and one of her handmaidens, nearly knocking them over as she dove face-first down the slide. Hakkai winced, but the child turned a neat somersault at the bottom, coming back to her feet nimbly, and circled away the playground, coming to an abrupt stop at the side of the largest slide.

The other three girls were leaning against the safety railing of the playhouse roof, staring angrily at the curly-headed hoyden. "Don't you push me, Ellie Shaw!" screamed Madeline. "I'm going to tell my mom on you!"

Young Miss Shaw rolled her eyes and squatted down next to Julia. Hakkai could hear her voice clearly, a little hoarse but not at all out of breath. "Hey," she said. "Wanna play space explorers?"

Julia dusted her hands against her shorts — she had been gathering up handfuls of tanbark and sifting them to the ground. "I don't know how."

"I see you at school. You're Julia Cho. You like to read, right? Do you know about science and stuff?"

Julia's head came up at that. Hakkai silently applauded the noisy girl: by luck or by people sense, she had come up with the perfect enticement. His daughter loved books about animals and stars and the weather. She knew that her mother had been a biologist and wanted to be one too when she grew up, even though she barely knew what that meant. "I certainly do," said Julia, with dignity, but her face was eager.

"I could use a good science officer on my ship." Miss Shaw bounced to her feet. Her knobby knees were scratched, her auburn curls had tanbark caught in them, and she had a scab on her tawny brown chin, but Hakkai thought she was the most beautiful girl on the playground after Julia. She raised a bony arm and pointed at a cluster of shrubs on the far side of the playground. "Come on, Scientist! There's a planet over there we gotta explore."

Julia crawled out from under the slide, and Captain Shaw grabbed her hand. They raced off, the good captain moderating her gallop to Julia's slower pace. Hakkai breathed a sigh of relief. To his surprise, his eyes were damp, and he rummaged in his pocket for his handkerchief. After he finished blowing his nose, he looked around at the mothers on the other benches, wondering who had given birth to this rowdy little heroine. None of them seemed likely, but several of them were looking over at the shrubs, which were being given a thorough examination by Captain Shaw and Science Officer Cho.

"You have to expect that," said one of the women, shaking her head. "No mother at home."

"I think her father does his best," said one of her friends, more kindly. "And there's a grandmother, too, isn't there?"

"She barely speaks English," said the first mother, darkly. "I'm sure back in El Salvador or whatever, they just shove the kids out the door to play in the dirt."

"The father's kind of cute," said a third mother, thoughtfully.

"Laurie, really! That doesn't make it any better!"

"Not so loud," said the kindly one. "Do you want him to hear you?"

They all turned to look in the same direction at that. And Hakkai realized that he was not, in fact, the only father at the playground. On the far side, in the sun away from the benches, two men were playing catch with a baseball in a lazy, relaxed way that was letting them keep an eye on the children. Hakkai envied them their easy camaraderie. One, sturdy and very dark-skinned, clearly belonged to the two little boys who were chasing each other over the climbing gym. The other was tall and lanky, with long red hair tied off his face with a blue bandana. He was lighter-skinned than the starship captain, but still darker than Hakkai. He had high cheekbones, a straight nose, and a laughing mouth, broad shoulders and long, long legs clad in blue denim and finished in well-used work boots. He was more than "kind of cute": he was strikingly handsome.

As Hakkai caught himself staring, a shrill altercation broke out of the playground. Captain Ellie and Officer Cho were standing on top of the playhouse, and Madeline and the other two girls were yelling at them. Apparently the spaceship had landed on top of the fairy castle and knocked a lot of tanbark into it. Madeline finished her recitation of the crew's sins with: "And I'm going to tell my mother!"

The Captain looked down at her with a deeply pained expression. She lifted one brown hand and made a gun out of her fingers. "Die, foul Vogons! _Pew, pew, pew!_ " Behind her, Julia's worried face broke into an ecstasy of silent glee.

Madeline froze. Then she drew herself upright. "Oh, you are so gonna get it, Ellie! Mommy! _Mommy!_ She did a gun! Ellie did a gun!"

The most disapproving of the mothers leapt to her feet and shouted over to the ballplayers. "Mr. Shaw! Mr. _Shaw!_ "

Hakkai was bewildered for a moment until he remembered the guidelines for student behavior that had come home with Julia on her first day of school last month: no real or play weapons in any form. Although this was a weekend, and not at school, apparently the whole community was serious about the issue.

Shaw was already tossing the ball to his companion and waving a distracted farewell as he headed over to the playhouse. HIs face was bleak. Hakkai noticed for the first time that his handsome features were marred by a scar across his left cheekbone. He swept his daughter up in one long arm and set her down firmly on the tanbark, then squatted down to stare her in the eyes. "Maria Elena Herrero Shaw! What'd we agree about playin' away from the house?"

"But Dad! Han Solo has a gun! Captain Kirk has a gun! The Star-Lord has a gun!"

"And Ellie doesn't have a gun outside the yard. Right? You promised."

Ellie's head drooped. "I promised. I messed up."

Shaw sat back on his heels. "What am I gonna do with you? You tell me."

"Take me home? No more playground?"

"Is that enough?"

Ellie's face was sad. "And no cartoons tonight? And tomorrow?"

Julia ran down the playhouse stairs to stand next to her new friend. "No, Ellie's dad! That's too much! She did it for me!"

Hakkai's mouth dropped open. He shut it and felt proud. Julia had not spoken to another adult on her own since Karen died. Shaw smiled at her, although his eyes were still sad. He patted her on the shoulder.

"It's good to stand up for your friends, sweetheart, but Ellie knows how to pick her own punishments. She _did_ break a promise." He stood up. "C'mon, squirt: let's go home."

He strode away from the playground, from the other children and parents, and from Hakkai, Ellie trotted dejectedly in his wake. Julia stared after them for a moment and then ran to Hakkai. "Dad, Dad! Please, can't Ellie come to supper? Talk to him, Dad!"

Hakkai's gut twisted. He had never met this man before. The fellow was not on good terms with the other parents at the school — or at least, not with the mothers of these girls.

Julia tugged on his hand. "Dad! Daddy! Don't just stand there: they're going away and Ellie's not in my class and we don't know where they live!"

She needed him. She needed him to be brave: at least as brave as young Captain Shaw. He drew a deep breath. "How fast can you run, Science Officer Cho?"

Her eyes widened, and then she grinned. "Faster than you, Professor Cho!"

"Then let's go!"

They ran pellmell across the tanbark, past the row of astonished faces younger and older, through the shrubs, across the ball field. They caught up with Shaw and his daughter at the far entrance to the park, on Rickover Street, where the houses were smaller and older. The other two heard their pounding feet and turned to watch them come. As Hakkai skidded to a halt in Julia's wake, and they both stood panting, both Shaws broke into beautiful, wide grins.

"M-Mr. Shaw," said Hakkai, at last. "Can - can the Captain's sentence be suspended, temporarily, for supper tonight? At our house?"

Shaw considered for a moment, then looked down at his child and ruffled her curls. "How about it, squirt? Still no cartoons tomorrow, though."

She threw her arms around him and hugged him, and then reached out to grab Julia's hand. "Your dad is so cool, Julie!"

Hakkai blushed. Shaw looked at him and winked, then held out his own large hand. "Joe Shaw."

"Hakkai Cho." They shook hands, and Hakkai felt the muscles of his face stretching into a smile wider than he'd managed for two years.

"Hey, can we bring anything for supper?" asked Joe.

Hakkai shook his head. "We have plenty of spaghetti sauce, and I can easily manage some sides."

"How about ice cream for dessert? We can go pick it up right now. Cardelli's is just two blocks over, on the Pike."

"That sounds wonderful," said Hakkai. "Why don't we all go?"

Joe grinned and led the way. The two girls were soon in an involved discussion of supply routes and how much ice cream the ship could hold. Hakkai felt an unfamiliar warmth in his heart. "Captain Shaw," he said, "Does your ship have a name?"

She looked at him seriously for a moment, clearly wondering whether she was being teased. "You can tell him, squirt," said Joe.

"Sure she does!" said Ellie, finally. "She's called _Courage_."

"That's so cool!" said Julia.

"Yes," said Hakkai. "It's very cool, indeed."

 


End file.
